CHICAGO (November 2, 2019) – The Loyola University Chicago men's soccer team travels to ninth-ranked Missouri State on Sunday, Nov. 3. With the regular season winding down, Loyola can guarantee a second seed in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and an opening round bye with a win in one of its final two matches.

Last Time Out: An early goal gave the Ramblers an edge over Evansville, 1-0 on Wednesday night. Fabian Becerra put the Maroon & Gold on the board early, catching a rebound off Aidan Megally's shot in the 3rd minute. The defense took over from there, as each team only put up five shots.

vs. Missouri State: Led by head coach Jon Leamy in his 28th season, ninth-ranked Missouri State (14-0-0, 8-0-0 MVC) is the only team still undefeated in NCAA-Division I ahead of Sunday afternoon's match-up. The Bears recently clinched their eighth MVC regular season championship in program history with a program-best 14 wins. On Wednesday, Missouri State's Matthew Bentley scored the golden goal to push the Bears past Valpo, 3-2. Valpo had a 2-0 lead in the second half before the Bears notched three consecutive unanswered goals. Bentley tallied two goals for the Bears while Stuart Wilkin registered one. Bentley leads Missouri State and the MVC with 11 goals and three assists this season. The Bears were picked first in the MVC Preseason Poll following a 9-2-6 campaign in 2018.
 
Series Stuff: Loyola and Missouri State will meet for the 13th time on Sunday afternoon. The Bears lead the all-time series, 6-4-2, but Loyola has won four of the last six meetings. In their last meeting on, Sept. 22, 2019, the Bears defeated the Ramblers, 2-1 in overtime. Justin Sukow found the back of the net for Loyola, while Bentley and Wilkin scored for MSU.

Up Next: Following the trip to Missouri State, Loyola will play its final match of the regular season at Valparaiso on Nov. 9 at 7 p.m.